No funding for Wayne County's fight against drug abuse

WOOSTER -- Of the nearly $1 billion allocated by the 21st Century Cures Act, Ohio received $26 million to aid the opiate epidemic fight.

Wayne County didn't qualify to receive any.

Funding was provided to counties experiencing the greatest need. Emphasis was placed on those with the highest opioid overdose death rates. Areas with the highest overdose death counts for the years 2010-2015 were classified as Tier 1 counties. Those with the next highest overdose rate were designated as Tier 2 counties.

This approach put Wayne County, where opioid overdose deaths have increased in recent years, in the same Tier 3 category as counties that did not tally any opioid overdose deaths. Together, Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties account for 75 percent of Ohioans, or approximately 8.7 million residents. Wayne County's qualification as a Tier 3 county makes it ineligible to receive funding.

Receiving the funding would have been important to Wayne County residents because, "We could use more dollars for medication-assisted treatment," said Judy Wortham Wood, executive director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Wayne and Holmes Counties.

One of the medication-assisted treatments that could be implemented includes Vivitrol injections to addicts who are leaving jail.

Bobbi Douglas, executive director of OneEighty, formerly Liberty Center Connections/STEPS, spoke with the county commissioners about the desire to offer these opioid-blocking shots to addicts. There is an effort underway with the Common Pleas Adult Probation Department. The thinking is the addicts will detox while in jail, see a physician upon release for the shot (which is voluntary, not mandatory) and then get connected with a counselor through OneEighty.

Another potential solution is a quick-response team that could contact the family of someone who has overdosed, Douglas said. The team might include someone from law enforcement, a counselor, a recovery coach and emergency medical personnel. Right now, there is no funding for such a team, Douglas said.

"The purpose of 21st Century Cures is a comprehensive approach," said Josh Prest of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman's office. Prest recently gave a presentation at the Wayne County Public Library.

A survey sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that in 2015, approximately 828,000 Ohioans 12 years old and older have used heroin.

When all other illicit drugs are factored into the equation, the number greatly increases. When drugs like meth, marijuana, tranquilizers, sedatives, cocaine and other controlled substances are added, the number of illicit drug users jumps to 27.1 million for people 12 and older.

Wood asked Prest if the information from the projects that were funded would be shared among the Tier 3 counties.

Eric R. Wandersleben, director of Media Relations and Outreach of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said later all data and best practices will absolutely be shared.

"Even though we didn't get the dollars, we could know about the programs," Wood said. "I would like to make sure that we know all of the evidence-based practices in all areas here locally.

"I understand that other counties have a higher need in terms of (overdose) deaths. On the other hand, we know our community has serious needs and we want to prevent having (a higher) level of need. We want to prevent the level of problems that other counties are having. I would have preferred that we were able to receive some funds in order to do that."

Reporter Dan Starcher can be reached at 330-287-1626 or dstarcher@the-daily-record.com. He is @danstarcher on Twitter. Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or bwarren@the-daily-record.com. He is @BobbyWarrenTDR on Twitter.